pvlib.iotools.read_epw#

pvlib.iotools.read_epw(filename, coerce_year=None)[source]#

Read an EPW file in to a pandas dataframe.

Note that values contained in the metadata dictionary are unchanged from the EPW file.

EPW files are commonly used by building simulation professionals and are widely available on the web. For example via: https://energyplus.net/weather , http://climate.onebuilding.org or http://www.ladybug.tools/epwmap/

Parameters
  • filename (String) – Can be a relative file path, absolute file path, or url.

  • coerce_year (int, optional) – If supplied, the year of the data will be set to this value. This can be a useful feature because EPW data is composed of data from different years. Warning: EPW files always have 365*24 = 8760 data rows; be careful with the use of leap years.

Returns

  • data (DataFrame) – A pandas dataframe with the columns described in the table below. For more detailed descriptions of each component, please consult the EnergyPlus Auxiliary Programs documentation 1

  • metadata (dict) – The site metadata available in the file.

Notes

The returned structures have the following fields.

key

format

description

loc

String

default identifier, not used

city

String

site loccation

state-prov

String

state, province or region (if available)

country

String

site country code

data_type

String

type of original data source

WMO_code

String

WMO identifier

latitude

Float

site latitude

longitude

Float

site longitude

TZ

Float

UTC offset

altitude

Float

site elevation

EPWData field

description

index

A pandas datetime index. NOTE, times are set to local standard time (daylight savings is not included). Days run from 0-23h to comply with PVLIB’s convention.

year

Year, from original EPW file. Can be overwritten using coerce function.

month

Month, from original EPW file.

day

Day of the month, from original EPW file.

hour

Hour of the day from original EPW file. Note that EPW’s convention of 1-24h is not taken over in the index dataframe used in PVLIB.

minute

Minute, from original EPW file. Not used.

data_source_unct

Data source and uncertainty flags. See 1, chapter 2.13

temp_air

Dry bulb temperature at the time indicated, deg C

temp_dew

Dew-point temperature at the time indicated, deg C

relative_humidity

Relative humidity at the time indicated, percent

atmospheric_pressure

Station pressure at the time indicated, Pa

etr

Extraterrestrial horizontal radiation recv’d during 60 minutes prior to timestamp, Wh/m^2

etrn

Extraterrestrial normal radiation recv’d during 60 minutes prior to timestamp, Wh/m^2

ghi_infrared

Horizontal infrared radiation recv’d during 60 minutes prior to timestamp, Wh/m^2

ghi

Direct and diffuse horizontal radiation recv’d during 60 minutes prior to timestamp, Wh/m^2

dni

Amount of direct normal radiation (modeled) recv’d during 60 minutes prior to timestamp, Wh/m^2

dhi

Amount of diffuse horizontal radiation recv’d during 60 minutes prior to timestamp, Wh/m^2

global_hor_illum

Avg. total horizontal illuminance recv’d during the 60 minutes prior to timestamp, lx

direct_normal_illum

Avg. direct normal illuminance recv’d during the 60 minutes prior to timestamp, lx

diffuse_horizontal_illum

Avg. horizontal diffuse illuminance recv’d during the 60 minutes prior to timestamp, lx

zenith_luminance

Avg. luminance at the sky’s zenith during the 60 minutes prior to timestamp, cd/m^2

wind_direction

Wind direction at time indicated, degrees from north (360 = north; 0 = undefined,calm)

wind_speed

Wind speed at the time indicated, m/s

total_sky_cover

Amount of sky dome covered by clouds or obscuring phenomena at time stamp, tenths of sky

opaque_sky_cover

Amount of sky dome covered by clouds or obscuring phenomena that prevent observing the sky at time stamp, tenths of sky

visibility

Horizontal visibility at the time indicated, km

ceiling_height

Height of cloud base above local terrain (7777=unlimited), meter

present_weather_observation

Indicator for remaining fields: If 0, then the observed weather codes are taken from the following field. If 9, then missing weather is assumed.

present_weather_codes

Present weather code, see [1], chapter 2.9.1.28

precipitable_water

Total precipitable water contained in a column of unit cross section from earth to top of atmosphere, cm. Note that some old *_TMY3.epw files may have incorrect unit if it was retrieved from www.energyplus.net.

aerosol_optical_depth

The broadband aerosol optical depth per unit of air mass due to extinction by aerosol component of atmosphere, unitless

snow_depth

Snow depth in centimeters on the day indicated, (999 = missing data)

days_since_last_snowfall

Number of days since last snowfall (maximum value of 88, where 88 = 88 or greater days; 99 = missing data)

albedo

The ratio of reflected solar irradiance to global horizontal irradiance, unitless

liquid_precipitation_depth

The amount of liquid precipitation observed at indicated time for the period indicated in the liquid precipitation quantity field, millimeter

liquid_precipitation_quantity

The period of accumulation for the liquid precipitation depth field, hour

References

1(1,2)

EnergyPlus documentation, Auxiliary Programs